A multi-toolhead machine such as a turret machining system has eight toolheads with equal radial distance apart from each other. A tool can be mounted on each of the eight toolheads. The toolheads can be controllably rotated so as to select a desired tool. Whichever tool selected will be in a downward position perpendicular to an X-Y plane where a workpiece is secured. Because of differences in the machining of various components, each toolhead points to a slightly different X and Y-axes coordinate position when locked in the downward position. Consequently, the precision of cutting is adversely affected. This problem is shared by all multi-toolhead machinery systems.
Multi-toolhead machines are manually calibrated by a highly skilled technician spending about 30 minutes per toolhead. The skill level required of a technician performing manual calibration is so high that oftentimes only machine manufacturers"" technicians are qualified to perform the task. Therefore, whenever an end-user crashes a machine due to careless operation such as accidentally allowing a toolhead run into the worktable or whenever a toolhead is replaced, the machine must be calibrated. In this type of situation, many end-users have no choice but to shut down all machine operations and fly in a manufacturer""s technician to calibrate the machine. The present invention eliminates these problems by calibrating a machine using a computer numerical controller. Not only does the present invention permit an end-user to calibrate the machine whenever calibration is required, but the calibration time is shortened from 30 minutes per toolhead to 10 seconds per toolhead. This translates to a tremendous amount of time savings and increases productivity to the end-user.
The first object is to calibrate a number one toolhead of a multi-toolhead machining system with respect to a predetermined position.
The second object is to calibrate each of the remaining toolheads of the multi-toolhead machining system with respect to the number one toolhead.
The third object is to effectively calibrate all toolheads in the multi-toolhead machining system once the number one toolhead is properly calibrated.
The fourth object is to automatically calibrate each toolhead of the multi-toolhead machining system with a computer numerical controller.
The fifth object is to provide a unique offset value to each of the toolheads.
The sixth object is to introduce a four-point calibration technique.
The seventh object is to introduce a three-point calibration technique.
The eighth object is to provide a calibration technique applicable to any multi-toolhead machinery system.